Here’s your last edition of Friday Links for 2015. At Exposed DC, we’ve spent a wonderful year enjoying the images from so many talented photographers living in the D.C. area. We threw a big party at the new Capital Fringe headquarters last March for our 9th annual Exposed DC Photography Show, met up to watch the once-in-a-lifetime flyover of World War II aircraft, worked with some generous volunteer teachers who taught many of you some new skills at our Knowledge Commons DC photography class series, and have gotten to know tons of you through our monthly happy hours. We look forward to 2016 and celebrating our 10th anniversary exhibit with you all — submit your photos by January 6 to have your work featured in the exhibit — and doing whatever we can to foster and encourage local photographers.

• The City Paper’s Louis Jacobson picks his top nine photographic images (plus one video project) exhibited in the D.C. area in 2015.
• National Geographic revealed the winners of their 2015 photo contest, with the grand prize going to James Smart for his shot “Dirt” which shows an anti-cyclonic tornado touching down in open farmland in Colorado.
• Aperture looks back at a selection of their 2015 features, from in-depth conversations with William Klein and Miyako Ishiuchi to a secret history of Japanese photography.
• A collection of some of the best books of photography from this year, as selected by Teju Cole and editors of The New York Times magazine.
• “Each photograph selected for TIME’s Top 10 photos of 2015, carefully culled from thousands and presented here unranked, reflects a unique and powerful point of view that represents the best of photojournalism this year.”
• The Guardian takes a closer look at five fake photos that went viral in 2015.
• “Trees and bees confused in Washington, D.C.” Capital Weather Gang’s Kevin Ambrose headed for the Mall to document the effects of the recent spring-like weather.
• SFGate has a photo gallery of this elephant seal determined to cross North Bay Highway in California. She DGAF.
• Quit taking images of beautiful sunsets. You’re better off looking for the bizarre. Scientists have uncovered exactly what makes a photo memorable.
• A Siberian tiger and a goat that was supposed to be his lunch became best friends instead.
• Fans of Vladimir Putin can now spend “the whole year with the Russian president” as a new 2016 limited edition calendar is released in Russia. Make sure not to miss November’s photo, captioned “Dogs and I have very warm feelings for one another.”
• Behind the Lens: 2015 Year in Photographs. By Pete Souza, Chief Official White House Photographer. Make sure you’re sitting comfortably and have time to spare before feasting your eyes on this post which features over 100 incredible images.
• “The National Zoo’s small mammal house features an eclectic collection of wacky hairstyles and odd visages.” Stunning photographs by habitual Exposed DC alumna Angela Napili.

Our 10th annual photo contest is now open! Get your photos in that show us what you love about living in the metro area, and be part of our huge celebration at The Historical Society of Washington, D.C. inside the Carnegie Library next March. (By the way, they have their own contest going on right now — submit here to For the Record.)

• Photographer Hantim Lee wraps up 15 years of taking portraits of customers through the glass in her parent’s liquor store in Washington, D.C.
• Make a donation to Critical Exposure, which teaches students to use photography to advocate for change in their schools and communities.
• Want to be one of 25 lucky Instagrammers to see Bei Bei in person on December 19? Register by December 7 for the National Zoo’s #PandaStory Instameet contest.
• Vanity Fair profiles William Eggleston, the “father of color photography.”
• When your friends name their baby Lux, just grit your teeth and smile and nod.
• TIME has selected Angelos Tzortzinis as Best Wire Photographer of 2015 for his heartfelt work documenting Greece’s economic and refugee crises.
• Revolution and terrorism have all but destroyed Tunisian tourism and the thriving film industry that helped produce three of the six Star Wars films. Locals who once worked as film crew live alongside the old sets, which now lie neglected, slowly being consumed by the desert.
• Tears produced through different causes — grief, sadness, irritation — have different structures, as photographer Rose Lynn-Fisher shows us.
• A new exhibition in Paris — “Who is afraid of Women Photographers?” — reveals over a century’s worth of stones unturned, of women who in one way or another have been forgotten by history despite their lasting influence on the art and practice of photography.
• Dickey Chapelle, one of the first female war photographers, risked her life to capture history on world stages from Iwo Jima to the Vietnam War.
• FarmHer was founded in 2013 to begin to change the image of agriculture – to include women in that image through photographs and stories.
• Best known for capturing the Great Depression in the 1930s, Walker Evans photographed American life for nearly 70 years. “Depth of Field” is the most comprehensive study of his work ever published, covering his early shots of New York and his lesser-known Polaroids.
• Forget Mickey Mantle and Jose Conseco: Collect photographer cards instead!
• Freelancers are pissed about Time Magazine’s new photographer contracts.
• Send your rock ‘n roll photos to the Smithsonian, which will be selected from to publish in a new book with both crowdsourced and professional images.
• After six years and 720,000 exposures, photographer Alan McFayden got the bird shot he’d been waiting for.
• After two years of controversy over images submitted to the World Press Photo contest, the organization has announced major changes to the competition’s rules.
• In such a competitive environment, what can make or break a wildlife photo contest entry? Judges agree there is no single formula, but there are some key things to consider.
• What’s your perfect childhood Christmastime memory? Diana Zeyneb Alhindawi fondly remembers loud, drunk bears singing and dancing in her grandparents’ living room in Romania.
• Using camera traps, ecologist Jonny Armstrong photographs animals when they least expect it.